Beatings From The North joins forces with MMAViking.com!

This is my 100th post on this blog and it could be the last one. But don't worry, if you like following Scandinavian MMA you can now do it even easier at MMAViking.com. Me and Ryan of MMAViking have decided to put our content together on one website that serves a very clear purpose: all about Scandinavian MMA in English on one site.

Thanks to everyone who has read my scribblings over the past three years and I hope you all follow me to the MMAViking.com.

Announcement of the merger (big business) at MMAViking

You can still reach me at NorthernmostMMA AT gmail.com

Botnia Punishment X videos online

Videos from Botnia Punishment's event X are now online at Youtube. You can also view the vids at MMAViking

Cage 16: Kuivanen beats Meller, Niinimäki knocks out Frachey

Beforehand Cage 16's main event fights were seen as final tests for Finnish MMA stars Anton Kuivanen and Tom "Stoneface" Niinimäki who have been patiently waiting for their shot at the major leagues. The wait should be over as both fighters passed their test with flying colors.

In the extremely exciting main event fight hometown hero Anton Kuivanen (16-4) defended his Cage Lightweight belt against Blackhouse MMA's Thiago Meller (17-4) of Brazil. In the first round Kuivanen controlled the action with crisp striking and used his speed advantage to stay out of harms way. Near the end of the round Meller however caught Kuivanen with a overhand right that sent the Finn on floor. Kuivanen quickly recovered, but as he was working on his way up, Kuivanen ended up in Meller's guillotine choke. Kuivanen kept his calm and waited for the round to end. In the second round Kuivanen turned up the volume punishing fading Meller on the feet with fast strikes. With one minute left in the round Kuivanen connected with blazing combination that sent the Brazilian dazed against the cage. Kuivanen threw everything but the kitchen sink at Meller who absorbed an unbelievable amount of punishment refusing to give up. In the third round exhausted Meller caught Kuivanen once more in a guillotine choke that looked very tight but again Kuivanen did a marvelous job defending the choke, popped his head out and rained down elbows from the top position.

Anton Kuivanen is ready for the big stages (Photo by Kulmassa.fi)

In the end Kuivanen kept his Cage lightweight belt with a lopsided unanimous decision. The Finnish striking machine has now won his last nine fights including wins over Ivan Buchinger (16-2) and Tim Radcliffe (11-4). Convincing win over a highly regarded veteran in Thiago Meller should be enough for Kuivanen to land a deal with a major promotion.

Number two featherweight in Europe Tom "Stoneface" Niinimäki returned to action after almost a year away from the cage. In the Cage featherweight title fight the defending champion showed no signs of ring rust as he crushed his French opponent Johnny Frachey in a little over minute. Frachey, a powerful grappler who had won his last five fights, was stunned by Niinimäki's beautiful headkick. Niinimäki quickly followed up with a shattering uppercut that sealed the deal and left Frachey unconscious on the floor.

Tom Niinimäki is a beast who has gone 6-0 at featherweight (Photo by Kulmassa.fi)

Since dropping down to featherweight Niinimäki (16-5) is still undefeated after six bouts winning them all in a dominating fashion. In the Euro circuit there are no meaningful fights left for the young Finn so the most reasonable next step for him would be signing with the UFC. Another option is the Bellator that has been lately signing a lot of Euro talent.

Also on the main card was the welterweight bout between Finnish grappler Olli-Jaakko Uitto and Sweden's Nicholas Musoke. In a quite uneventful fight Musoke won the decision as he was able to stuff Uitto's takedown attempts and got the better of the striking exchanges on the feet.

In the women's bout Finland's Katja Kankaanpää (5-0) kept her record clean by outgrappling Spain's Karla Benitez (5-1) to a decision win.

Full results:
Cage Lightweight title bout: Anton Kuivanen (16-4-0) vs Thiago Meller (17-4-0), Brazil: Kuivanen by UD

Cage Featherweight title bout: Tom “Stoneface” Niinimäki (16-5-0) vs Johnny Frachey (13-8-0), France: Niinimäki by KO R1

Welterweight: Olli-Jaakko Uitto (8-1-1) vs Nicholas Musoke (7-2-0), Sweden: Musoke by UD

Lightweight (women 55kg / 122 lbs): Katja Kankaanpää (5-0-0) vs Karla Benitez (5-0-0) Spain: Kalliokoski by UD

Heavyweight: Jarno Nurminen (6-2-0) Team Scandinavia vs Catalin Zmarandescu (6-2-0) Romania: Nurminen by Submission strikes R1

Bantamweight: Heikki Tiilikka (5-3-0) vs Mikhael Daboville (4-4-0), France: Tiilikka by UD

Lightweight: Antti Virtanen (5-3-1) vs Viktor Tomasevic (3-2-1) , Lithuania: Virtanen by Split Decision

Lightweight: Lauri Väätäinen (5-3-0) vs Makwan Amirkhani (3-1-0): Amirkhani by Heelhook R1

Welterweight: Lauri Tonteri (3-2-0) vs Johan Vänttinen (5-2-0): Vänttinen by KO R1

Welterweight: Jussi Halonen (2-0-0) vs Sergei Kabalinov (1-0-0): Halonen by UD

Cage 16 LIVE results

LIVE results from Barona Arena at Espoo, Finland. Fights starts at 17.00 CET.

Cage Lightweight title bout: Anton Kuivanen (15-4-0) vs Thiago Meller (17-4-0), Brazil: Kuivanen by UD

Cage Featherweight title bout: Tom “Stoneface” Niinimäki (15-5-0) vs Johnny Frachey (13-8-0), France: Niinimäki by KO

Welterweight: Olli-Jaakko Uitto (8-1-1) vs Nicholas Musoke (6-2-0), Sweden: Musoke by UD

Lightweight (women 55kg / 122 lbs): Katja Kalliokoski (4-0-0) vs Karla Benitez (5-0-0) Spain: Kalliokoski by UD

Heavyweight: Jarno Nurminen (5-2-0) Team Scandinavia vs Catalin Zmarandescu (6-2-0) Romania: Nurminen by Sub strikes

Bantamweight: Heikki Tiilikka (4-3-0) vs Mikhael Daboville (4-4-0), France:Tiilikka by Ud

Lightweight: Antti Virtanen (4-3-1) vs Viktor Tomasevic (3-2-1) , Lithuania: Virtanen by UD

Lightweight: Lauri Väätäinen (5-3-0) vs Makwan Amirkhani (2-1-0): amirkani by Heelhook

Welterweight: Lauri Tonteri (3-2-0) vs Johan Vänttinen (4-2-0): Vänttinen by KO

Welterweight: Jussi Halonen (1-0-0) vs Sergei Kabalinov (1-0-0):Halonen by UD

Cage 16 - 1st Defense Preview

CAGE 16 - 1st Defense on October 8th 2011 at the Espoo Barona Arena.

Cage Lightweight title bout: Anton Kuivanen (15-4-0) vs Thiago Meller (17-4-0), Brazil
Finnish Lightweight star and hometown hero Anton Kuivanen defends his Cage belt against the dangerous Thiago “Minu” Meller from Brazil.

The main event of the night features once again hometown hero Anton Kuivanen who is the biggest draw in Finnish MMA and thus a vital fighter also for the Cage promotion. The young Finn is known for his flashy striking and entertaining fighting style. American Top Team’s Kuivanen has a great record of 15-4, but it’s getting even better all the time. He’s 11-1 in his last twelve with the only loss coming in the hands of Bendy Casimir in a fight that Kuivanen was clearly winning before getting caught in a knee bar. Since that loss the rapidly improving Finn has won all his fights in a dominating fashion and is currently riding a eight fight win streak that includes wins over top ranked Euro lightweights like Ivan Buchinger (16-2) and Tim Radcliffe (11-4). Kuivanen’s highly versatile and explosive striking is still his main weapon of choice but during the last couple of years he has managed to take his wrestling and ground game to another level also.

Like Kuivanen, also the Brazilian veteran Thiago “Minu” Meller is far from a one trick pony. Most of his wins have become via submission but Meller is competent on the feet too and has a record of 15-1 in Muay Thai. Meller has snatched eight of his eleven submission wins by guillotine choke. He hunts for his opponents head in the clinch, locks in the arm in guillotine, drops down on his back and applies the choke perfectly leaving his opponents no choice but to tap out. On the feet Meller’s best weapon are the vicious kicks he throws, thanks to his Muay Thai background. Meller is a gutsy and iron chinned fighter who has never been knocked out and submitted just once. His four career losses have become in the hands of top level talent like current UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo and UFC lightweight contender Rafael Dos Anjos.

Cage Featherweight title bout: Tom “Stoneface” Niinimäki (15-5-0) vs Johnny Frachey (13-8-0), France
Europe’s number two featherweight Tom Niinimäki finally returns to the cage after being almost a full year without an MMA fight. Notable challenger comes in a form of Frenchman Johnny Frachey who tries to give Niinimäki his first loss at Featherweight.

According to information that I’ve receiving, the reason for the layoff was mainly due to no one wanting to fight Niinimäki in the Euro circuit while for some reason major promotions didn’t sign him. During this time Niinimäki however kept himself busy by taking amateur boxing fights and competing at the 2011 FILA European Championships where the 27 year old Finn won gold in submission wrestling. Niinimäki is a complete fighter: technically solid boxing on the feet, powerful wrestling and takedowns coupled with airtight grappling and heavy ground and pound. Niinimäki is undefeated at featherweight and has been lately crushing highly touted fighters. In his last three fights Niinimäki has beaten Dutch Ben Boekee (13-1), UK’s Dave Hill (9-2) and Lithuanian submission ace Sergei Grecicho (10-4).

France’s Johnny Frachey is an experienced veteran who has been fighting since 2003 and faced world class opponents like David Baron, Luciano Azevedo and Mizuto Hirota during his long career. Frachey is a strong and technically sound grappler who has fought at Lightweight for the most part of his career. Frachey trains at his own gym that is located in Athis Mons. Frachey’s strong points are his quick takedowns combined with versatile skills on the ground. His striking isn’t weak by any means but in most cases short and stocky Frachey will try everything to take the fight to the floor. This will Frachey’s second fight in Finland. At the Helsinki Fight Night event in November 2009 he suffered a decision loss to Niko Puhakka in a lightweight bout. Frachey is currently on a five fight win streak but the level of competition that he has fought lately has been weak compared to Niinimäki’s recent opponents.

Welterweight: Olli-Jaakko Uitto (8-1-1) vs Nicholas Musoke (6-2-0), Sweden
Two skilled fighters meet in a traditional Finland versus Sweden match up.

The Finn Olli-Jaakko Uitto has been defeated just once during his ten fight long pro career. Cage WW champion Ville Räsänen was able to stuff Uitto’s takedowns and outstrike him on the feet. In his other fights Uitto has forced the fight on the ground and finished most of his opponents by submission.

Nicholas Musoke fights out of Stockholm Shoot, the gym that also serves as a home for the UFC star Alexander Gustafson. While Musoke is competent on the feet, he is at his best on the ground. In his latest fight Musoke choked out Scottish Steven Ray (8-2) late in the first round with RNC and got a good win under his belt. Both Uitto and Musoke know their stuff on the ground and actively hunt for submissions so this fight could end up being an entertaining grappling fest.

Also on the card:
Lightweight (women 55kg / 122 lbs): Katja Kalliokoski (4-0-0) vs Karla Benitez (5-0-0) Spain

Heavyweight: Jarno Nurminen (5-2-0) Team Scandinavia vs Catalin Zmarandescu (6-2-0) Romania

Bantamweight: Heikki Tiilikka (4-3-0) vs Mikhael Daboville (4-4-0), France

Lightweight: Antti Virtanen (4-3-1) vs Viktor Tomasevic (3-2-1) , Lithuania

Lightweight: Lauri Väätäinen (5-3-0) vs Makwan Amirkhani (2-1-0)

Welterweight: Lauri Tonteri (3-2-0) vs Johan Vänttinen (4-2-0)

Welterweight: Jussi Halonen (1-0-0) vs TBA

Don't forget to check out my blog for live results on fight night and event report afterwards!

Fight Festival 31: Robertson knocks out Linhares, Victorious Vänttinen announces deal with Bellator

Fight Festival 31 offered a long and entertainment night for the fight fans on the 1st of October at the Töölö Sports Hall in Helsinki, Finland. Even though most of the fights on the card went to distance, the night was filled with exciting back-n-forth battles between evenly matched fighters.

In the main event UFC veterans in Lucio Linhares and Kenny Robertson were hunting for their ticket back to the biggest show on the planet. Early in the round Robertson landed a heavy right on the jaw of Linhares but the Brazilian born Finn pressed forward with punches. Linhares was able to crack Robertson with couple shots of his own but the American countered with takedowns. In the closing seconds of the fighters round when the fighters broke off from a clinch situation, Robertson exploded with a spinning back fist that landed clean on Linhares and knock him out cold. A spectacular win for the high school teacher from Illinois whom we’ll probably see soon back in the UFC.

In the co-main event Finnish lightweight powerhouse Niko Puhakka take on Xtreme Couture’s very experienced John Gunderson. Gunderson started strong landing a quick combo and took Puhakka down where he was able the Finn’s back. Puhakka kept his calm and defended well. In the second round the momentum switched to Puhakka’s side who was able to get dominant position on the ground and land strikes. Puhakka also had Gunderson in a very tight looking anaconda choke but the American did an awesome job defending the choke. In the final round Puhakka was able to set the pace as Gunderson begun to fade away. After three rounds of grueling ground fighting, the judges awarded Puhakka with an unanimous decision. This was probably Puhakka’s biggest win ever so it’ll be interesting to see where his next fight will take place.

In the light heavyweight bout Finnish top prospect Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen dominated France’s Malid Merak. Vänttinen was clearly the stronger fighter and took his opponent down easily from the clinch. On the ground the long limbed Frenchman quickly tried to apply a kimura on Vänttinen but the Finn tucked his hand deep and punished Merak for the rest of the round. In the second round Vänttinen again took his opponent down from the clinch and started raining down elbows and punches. Eventually Vänttinen moved to mount and hit Merak with couple of horrendous elbows that cut and possibly broke something in Merak’s face, leaving him no choice but to tap out. In the post fight interview Vänttinen announced that he has signed with the Bellator and will participate to promotion’s Light Heavyweight Tournament that starts in early 2012. Excellent news for the talented young Finn but also for the whole Finnish MMA scene that has had some trouble getting its top fighters to major promotions.

Finnish JP Vainikainen and American Steve Lopez fought a draw in an exciting lightweight bout. Lopez scored points early by taking Vainikainen down and spinning to his back but Vainikainen but the young Finn defended skillfully. In the second and third round Vainikainen was able to hit Lopez with heavy shots and the American was in survival mode for latter part of the fight. Few seconds left in the fight Lopez broke the rules by upkicking grounded Vainikainen from the bottom and received a yellow card from the ref. The fight was scored as a draw which was a bit controversial considering Lopez’s yellow card. After the fight Vainikainen's team issued an official protest about the decision. The protest was then processed by the Finnish MMA Federation's jury (five judges) who re-evaluated the fight under FMMAF rules. The jury decided that Vainikainen won the fight based on effective striking, aggression and the point deduction to Lopez.

Another controversial draw decision was ruled in the welterweight fight between Bellator signee Janne Tulirinta and France’s Sebastien Garguier. The fight was real slugfest where both fighters were landing heavy shots on the feet without backing up an inch. The Frenchman got the better of the striking exchange after Tulirinta, who had been sick the week before the fight, begun to gas out. The majority of the crowd seemed to think that Garguier won the fight but the judges thought otherwise and the fight was declared as a draw.

Finnish featherweight prospect Joni Salovaara extended his winning streak to seven consecutive wins by beating Jeremy Pender of USA. Salovaara got the better of the striking on the feet and scored numerous takedowns. In the third round Salovaara cracked Pender with a shattering shot and finished the job on the floor with strikes. Salovaara, currently at ranked 10th on the European Featherweight top ten, has improved by leaps and bounds during the last two years. It will be interesting to see if he gets matched up with a big name 145er for his next fight.

Full results:
Catchweight 80 kg / 178 Lbs: Lucio “Spartan” Linhares (16-6) vs Kenny Robertson (10-1), USA: Robertson by KO R1
Lightweight: Niko Puhakka (24-11) vs John Gunderson (32-11), USA: Puhakka by UD
Light heavyweight: Marcus ”Caveman” Vänttinen (21-3) vs Malid Merak (11-7), France: Vänttinen by TKO R2.
Welterweight: Janne Tulirinta (12-3) vs Sebastien Garguier (9-7), France: Draw
Lightweight: Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (17-5) vs Steve Lopez (12-5), USA: Draw
Featherweight: Joni Salovaara (9-4) vs Jeremy Pender (7-2), USA: Salovaara by TKO R3
Bantamweight: Janne Elonen-Kulmala (4-2) vs Donatas Karlonas (2-3), Lithuania: Jamba by UD
Bantamweight: Mikael Silander (2-0) vs Perttu Paatola (2-0): Silander by UD
Kickboxing WAKO European Championship 64,5 kg Jarkko Jussila vs Petar Zivkovic: Zivkovic by split Dec
Muay thai: Jaakko Dahlbacka vs Paulius Sileikis: Sileikis TKO cut R5

Fight Festival 31 Live Results

Fights start at 18.00 EET (6 PM EET).

Catchweight 80 kg / 178 Lbs: Lucio “Spartan” Linhares (16-6) vs Kenny Robertson (10-1), USA: Robertson by KO R1

Lightweight: Niko Puhakka (23-11) vs John Gunderson (32-11), USA: Puhakka by UD

Light heavyweight: Marcus ”Caveman” Vänttinen (20-3) vs Malid Merak (11-7), France: Vänttinen by TKO R2. in the post fight interview Vänttinen announced that he will participate to Bellator's LHW tournament in 2012!

Welterweight: Janne Tulirinta (12-3) vs Sebastien Garguier (9-7), France: Draw

Lightweight: Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (17-5) vs Steve Lopez (12-5), USA: Draw

Featherweight: Joni Salovaara (8-4) vs Jeremy Pender (7-2), USA: Salovaara by TKO R3

Kickboxing WAKO European Championship 64,5 kg Jarkko Jussila vs Petar Zivkovic: Zivkovic by split Dec

Bantamweight: Janne Elonen-Kulmala (3-2) vs Donatas Karlonas (2-3), Lithuania: Jamba by UD

Bantamweight: Mikael Silander (1-0) vs Perttu Paatola (2-0): Silander by UD

Muay thai: Jaakko Dahlbacka vs Paulius Sileikis: Sileikis TKO cut R5

Fight Festival 31 Preview

Beforehand Fight Festival's 31th event looks to be it's biggest events ever. The card is stacked with world class talent and young talented prospects.

Catchweight 80 kg / 178 Lbs: Lucio “Spartan” Linhares (16-6) vs Kenny Robertson (10-1), USA
In the main event of the evening the fighters are both hunting for their ticket back to the UFC. The fight is a matchup between two aggressive and heavy handed fighters who both have a lot to gain here.
Brazilian born Lucio Linhares has found himself a new home in Helsinki where he has stayed for years now. The BJJ black belt got a rough welcoming in the UFC middleweight division as he was set up with two of the strongest grapplers in the division in Yushin Okami and Rousimar Palhares. Even though Linhares was eventually submitted by Palhares, he did show excellent ground game in that fight and even had Palhares in a tight triangle. In addition to his polished ground skills Linhares is also dangerous on the feet. His striking might not be very technical but he packs a mean punch and has shown that he can end fights on the feet too. Since his two losses in the UFC Linhares has gone 3-0 finishing all opponents including UFC vet Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Foupa-Pokam’s kick shattered Linhares’ elbow in the first round but in the second round gutsy Linhares managed to submit the French with a triangle. Linhares is now all healed up and looking for a win here that would launch him back to the UFC, only this time in the welterweight division.
Like Linhares also Robertson drew short end of the stick when his UFC debut opponent was decided by the promotion. In his debut in February 2011 then undefeated Robertson was matched with Mike Pierce a hard hitting wrestling powerhouse. In the first round Robertson did well and had Pierce even in a solid choke attempt but early in the second round Pierce dropped Robertson with a heavy punch and finished him on the ground. Robertson hasn’t fought since so it has been a good eight months since he has been in action. Robertson is a modern day allrounder, a fighter who can threat his opponents in every area of MMA. On the feet Robertson likes to be aggressive, push forward and let his legit Muay Thai skills do the work. Robertson’s ground game is also on a high level. He didn’t have any trouble grappling with Igor Almeida, who is a very good grappler, once they fought in 2010.

Lightweight: Niko Puhakka (23-11) vs John Gunderson (32-11), USA
In the co-main event Finland’s lightweight powerhouse Niko Puhakka gets a challenge from another crafty veteran in John Gunderson. The Finn throws heavy leather on the feet while the American has won most of his fights by submissions.
Puhakka, who is ranked 5th on the European LW top ten, has done very well in his recent fights. During the last year Puhakka has fought seven times winning all but one of those bouts. The loss came in a fight against Chute Boxe’s Luiz Azeredo who was able to able squeeze a decision win over the Finn at Fight Festival 28. Since that loss Puhakka has won his latest three fights all by submission. One of those wins was over Poland’s Maciej Gorski who Puhakka beat in the final of KSW lightweight tournament. Puhakka, who earlier in his career was known as a brawler with susceptible submission defense, has shown strong grappling skills in his recent bouts. On the feet Puhakka’s main weapons are tight boxing and constant pressure.
Fighting pro since 2002 and as a veteran of nearly fifty fights John Gunderson has seen it all: from small casino events in indian reservations to luxurious shows by the UFC with crowds of thousands. Gunderson fought three times in the UFC in 2010 winning a decision over Mark Holtz and dropping decision losses to Yves Edwards and Rafaello Oliviera. Since then Gunderson has gone 2-1 and won his last fight by submission. Short and stocky Gunderson is a well rounded fighter but he is definitely at his best on the ground which is obvious when you look at his record: Gunderson has snatched 25 submission victories in his career.

Light heavyweight: Marcus ”Caveman” Vänttinen (20-3) vs Malid Merak (11-7), France
Finnish LHW prospect Marcus Vänttinen takes on the Frenchman Malid Merak who steps in on short notice for injured Victor Välimäki.
Vänttinen’s eleven fight long win streak came to end in his latest fight against Attila Vegh. The heavy handed Slovakian was able to crack Vänttinen with couple of overhand rights in the first round and that set the pace for the rest of the fight. After the disappointing loss Vänttinen has been training like crazy. He also went to Sweden to train with UFC star Alexander Gustafsson and made a trip to the famous London Shootfighters gym. Physically strong Vänttinen likes to play the clinch game where he can land lethal knee strikes and elbows on his opponents. On the ground he likes to grind his opponents with short punches and elbows while maintaining positional control.
Over 2 meter (6’7”) Malid Merak has been fighting pro since 2009. In 2011 The lanky Frenchman has gone 2-2 including a solid win over Egidijus Valavicius and a TKO loss to Mikhail Zayats in M-1. Merak obviously has a huge reach that usually gives an advantage on the feet. Merak’s striking isn’t top notch from a technical standpoint but he is not afraid to throw down which is always a good quality in a fighter. On the ground Merak again uses his long limbs well as he hunts for triangles and kimuras but there are also some holes in his ground game. Merak’s biggest weakness is his takedown defense that for example looked non-existent in his fight against Zayats.

Welterweight: Janne Tulirinta (12-3) vs Sebastien Garguier (9-7), France
Bellator signee Janne Tulirinta makes a comeback after a two year hiatus against France’s Sebastien Garguier.
Before taking two years off from fighting, Tulirinta went 4-0 in his last four fights as a welterweight. Following the success in M-1, Tulirinta was then signed to Bellator’s Lightweight tournament but delayed visa processing in the USA lead to him being unable to participate. Tulirinta usually relies on his grappling heavy game where he looks to score takedowns, achieve top control and punish his opponent with strikes. Addition to having good ground and pound, Tulirinta’s submission game is nowdays also on a very high level.
Garguier is a pretty good grappler also so it might be that this fight will offer exciting grappling for the crowd. The proof of Garguier’s ground skills is in his record: eight of the nine career wins have become by a submission while he hasn’t been submitted once. However, like Tulirinta, Garguier is also competent on the feet. The Frenchman has solid boxing skills and heavy low kicks.

Lightweight: Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (17-5) vs Steve Lopez (12-5), USA
In a high quality Lightweight bout Finland’s rising star Vainikainen locks horns with UFC vet Steve Lopez. A win for Vainikainen should lead to him getting signed by a major promotion.
Vainikainen has been on a roll lately winning six of his last seven fights with one bout ending to a draw. In 2011 Vainikainen has already scored legit wins over Brian Geraghty and Josh Pulsifer among others. Tall and lanky Vainikainen has a long frame and limbs for the LW division. His long reach combined with his technically solid striking makes him a tough fight for anyone. On the ground Vainikainen can certainly handle himself too and has numerous submission wins to back this up.
After racking up a sweet record of 12-1, Lopez got then signed by the UFC in 2009. However things didn’t go too well for the Xtreme Couture fighter. First he got smacked around by LW top talent Jim Miller and then lost by split decision to Waylon Lower in a horribly boring bout that lead to him being cut from the promotion. After his UFC stint Lopez has fought twice with no success as he was first TKO’ed by Fabricio Camoes and then KO’ed by Justin Buchholz in May of 2011. Lopez hails from a high school wrestling background but he uses his wrestling skills usually for defending rather than taking people down. Lopez has solid striking on the feet and his ground game isn’t too shabby either.

Featherweight: Joni Salovaara (8-4) vs Jeremy Pender (7-2), USA
Finnish featherweight prospect Joni Salovaara tries to keep his winning streak alive against a slick grappler in Jeremy Pender.
After his fighting career got off with a rocky start Joni Salovaara has found his rhythm and won his last six bouts against respectable competition earning him a spot on the European FW top ten list. In his fight against the German based American Anthony Durnell, Salovaara showed the whole versatility of his skill set. The young Finn landed good shots on the feet, took his opponent down few times and eventually slapped on a fight ending triangle choke. Salovaara’s latest fight was against Estonian Jorgen Matsi who despite being a strong wrestler couldn’t take the Finn down and was then outstruck on the feet. Besides MMA Salovaara has recently competed also in boxing and worked on his already good striking skills.
Pender fights out of Vision MMA gym where he trains with guys like TUF alumni Victor O’Donnell and Daniel Straus who has done well in Bellator. Pender knows his stuff on the feet but he usually prefers to fight on the ground where he can use his slick jiu-jitsu skills. Pender has won six out of seven bouts by submission and is currently riding a four fight win streak. It will be interesting to see if the American can force the fight on the ground and keep it there.

Also on the card:
Kickboxing WAKO European Championship 64,5 kg Jarkko Jussila vs Petar Zivkovic: Finnish striking machine Jarkko Jussila faces his pro careers toughest challenge in Zivkovic. A win over Zivkovic would move Jussila close to WAKO world championship title fight.

Bantamweight: Janne Elonen-Kulmala (3-2) vs Donatas Karlonas (2-3), Lithuania
Young and talented “Jamba” makes a comeback after a serious injury and takes on a combat sambo veteran in Karlonas.

Bantamweight: Mikael Silander (1-0) vs Perttu Paatola (2-0)
Finnish MMA amateur champion Paatola fights undefeated Silander in a bout between two young guns.

In the nights lone Muay Thai bout Finland’s Jaakko Dahlbacka battles with Paulius Sileikis, a skilled striker from Lithuania.

Vänttinen interviewed by MMAViking

MMAViking keeps its focus on Finland and puts out this interview of Finnish LHW prospect Marcus Vänttinen

Botnia Punishment event report at Sherdog

Report by MMAViking. Check it out

MiddleEasy takes a look at upcoming Finnish MMA events

Cat Von C has put together a piece based on my blog entry about upcoming MMA events here in Finland. Thanks Cat!
Brace yourself! The Finland 2011-2012 MMA season starts this weekend

New MMA season starts off with a bang in Finland

It has become a tradition here in Finland that MMA promotions will be on the shelf for the summer time and most of the activity will happen during the winter time. As most people know winter here in Finland means freezing weather and dark days which makes the Finns want to spend time indoors watching their hockey games and of course sanctioned violence in a form of MMA.

The season 2011-2012 looks to be a great one. For the following month we got great events coming up back to back. Botnia Punishment on 23th of September is the first one, Fight Festival 31 on 1th of October will follow and Cage 16 on the 8th of October will be the third major event inside of three weeks. And of course smaller local shows are putting on shows in the fall too. It's good to be a MMA fan now in Finland!

Botnia Punishment "X". 23.9.2011 at Seinäjoki: In the main event hometown hero Jarkko "Forging Hammer" Latomäki will fight Sweden's experienced Diego Gonzalez (Sengoku, M-1, Bodog vet). After a disappointing loss to Ivan Buchinger, Latomäki has racked up couple of wins over lesser competition and now it's time to up raise the ante. Gonzalez has lost his last two and he needs a win here to get his career back on track. Finland vs Sweden setting is always a good starting point for a great fight and I don't think still will be an exception.
Other fights on the card include Norwegian vet Thomas "moon Lee" Hytten vs UK's James "Scraps" Saville. Finland rising welterweight talent Olli-Jaakko Uitto looks to bounce back to winning ways against the French Manuel Sully.

Fight Festival 31: On the paper FF 31 might be the promotion's most stacked card ever. The card is loaded with UFC veterans, European top tenners and high quality prospects. In the main event Lucio Linhares, who is fighting his way back to the UFC only this time to welterweight division, gets a dangerous challenge from UFC vet Kenny Robertson who undoubtedly has the same plan as Linhares.
Finnish Lightweight powerhouse Niko Puhakka looks to keep his winning streak alive against gritty UFC vet John Gunderson.
LHW prospect Marcus "Caveman" Vänttinen has been furiously training after Attila Vegh ended the Finn's eleven fight win streak with a decision win. The young Finn is really hungry for a win here but Vänttinen's job won't be easy as he faces off with UFC vet Victor Välimäki who returns to the land of his great grandfather.
In a super exciting lightweight bout Finland's rising LW star J-P Vainikainen gets a tough challenge from the UFC vet Steve Lopez.
Joni Salovaara, a young Finn who's riding a six fight win streak, will lock horns with UK's seasoned vet Paul Reed.

Cage 16: Cage promotion relies once again on Finland's most popular MMA fighter Anton Kuivanen to deliver an exciting main event for the fans. Kuivanen was supposed to meet UFC vet Curt Warburton of UK but unfortunately Warburton injured his leg and is out. A replacement hasn't been announced officially yet but there are some very interesting names on the table.
Number two ranked featherweight in Europe Tom "Stoneface" Niinimäki returns to the cage after a eleven month lay-off that was caused mainly by guys not wanting to fight him. France's Johnny Frachey has the balls to face Niinimäki and is currently riding an impressive five fight win streak.
Finland's top welterweight Ville Räisänen defends his Cage belt against Sweden's Assan Njie who has an excellent record of twelve wins and just two losses in his career.

More detailed previews of FF31 and Cage 16 will be published a week before the events.

Finn-fueled DARE promotion interviewed by MMAViking

Finns are doing big things in Thailand. Read more about it:
http://www.mmaviking.com/finnish-team-dares-to-grow-mma-in-thailand/

A look at Botnia Punishment X by MMA Viking

MMAViking has a great interview of the guys behind the Botnia Punishment and their views on the upcoming event named "X". The event will take place in Seinäjoki on the 23th of September with Jarkko Latomäki and Diego Gonzalez in the main event.
Check out the interview at MMAViking.com!

Back in Business....Upcoming events, Niinimäki Interview at MMAHQ

It seems that the summer is fading away and turning into fall. That maybe sad for some folks but for us MMA fanatics it means one thing: Finnish MMA scene comes back to life! We got two big events coming up in October: Fight Festival 31 on the 1st and Cage 16 on the 8th. Both events have awesome cards coming up. Check out the line-ups and event info from the promotions websites: Fight Festival and Cage.

Also check out the new interview of Tom Niinimäki by the MMA HQ. Finland's top ranked featherweight is fighting at the Cage 16 event.

Niinimäki is featured also on the Cage Junkie website in it's Next Big Thing section.

Rock And Brawl Preview

Rock And Brawl show that will place this saturday 14th of May in Kouvola, Finland is a newcomer in the Finnish MMA scene. This first event by the promotion has been bundled together with the Finnish national amateur MMA championships and a rock concert. Quite a mix, huh? Amateur bouts will take place during daytime and in the evening it's time for the professional MMA fights. After the fights hard rock bands will take over, so people can stay on the same spot, get hammered and party on. Sounds like a good concept to me.

LHW fight: Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen (20-2) vs Attila "Pumukli" Vegh (21-4-2)
In the main event of the evening Finland’s top prospect Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen meets the dangerous Attila “Pumukli” Vegh of Slovakia.

In his last two fights Vänttinen has completely manhandled two UFC veterans. Vänttinen first crushed Ron Faircloth in two minutes with vicious knees and ground and pound. Second victim was Edwin Dewees who could hang with Vänttinen for three minutes before he got smashed on the ground by Vänttinen’s ground and pound. The Dewees bout at Fight Festival 30 was Vänttinen’s fifth fight in six months. In October 2010 Vänttinen dominated UFC vet Ivan Serati on the ground and finished him in just four minutes. This was followed a unanimous decision win at Cage 14 over American Victor O’Donnell who fans might remember from the Ultimate Fighter show. Since dropping a decision to Rodney Wallace back in 2009, tall and lanky Vänttinen has made massive improvements during the last two years both to his physical performance and to his MMA skill set. Vänttinen uses his reach very well keeping his opponents on the outside with a stiff jab. In the clinch his solid Muay Thai skills and brute force come in to play. On the ground he likes to grind his opponents with short punches and elbows while looking for submissions and maintaining tight positional control. The young Finn walks around at 220 pounds but for a big light heavyweight he has shown excellent stamina in his fights that have gone full rounds. Vänttinen is currently riding an amazing eleven fight win streak and has openly stated that getting signed by the UFC is his goal at the moment. A win over a top level European fighter in Vegh would move the 24 year old Finn a step closer to reaching his goal.

Fighting since 2008 Slovakia’s Attila “Pumukli” Vegh has been working hard and slowly making his way towards the top of European Light Heavyweight division. For a pro fighter working hard means fighting a lot and that is exactly what Vegh has done. In 2009 he fought eleven times and in 2010 ten times, making him the busiest fighter in the Euro circuit. In his last three fights “Pumukli”, which means little devil in fairy tales, has gone 1-1-1. First he fought for the ISKA European LHW belt against Denmark’s Simon Carlsen. In the second round the Dane slammed Vegh on his head and finished the Slovakian with ground and pound. In February of 2011 Vegh fought a draw in a two round bout against the highly regarded Dutchman Hans Stringer. Vegh won his latest fight via a corner stoppage over Russia’s Baga Agaev who just few days ago armbarred Kevin Randleman at the WAFC. Fighting a draw with Stringer and beating a legit veteran in Agaev prove that Vegh isn’t far from the European top ten in his weight class.

In summary: Vegh is at his best on the feet where he uses his reach well and has a good arsenal of striking skills. However, Vegh’s wrestling and clinch work are average at best and that could lead to trouble in this fight. Vänttinen’s increasingly imposing strength allows him to strong-arm his opponents in the clinch and punish them with crushing knee strikes. While Vegh is certainly a dangerous opponent for Vänttinen both standing and on the ground, I expect the young Finn to continue on his winning ways and finish his opponent within two rounds.

LW (155 lbs/70 kg): Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (16-5, Finland) vs Josh ”Platypus” Pulsifer (16-5, USA)
Finnish striker JP Vainikainen faces American grappler Josh Pulsifer in an exciting lightweight bout.

Espoo’s JP Vainikainen is on a roll right now and steadily making his way to the top ten of European Lightweight division. The young Finn is riding a five fight win streak, finishing four of those fights. In his last two fights Vainikainen has beaten experienced Americans in Brian Geraghty and Ryan Bixler. At the Fight Festival 29 Vainikainen outstruck UFC veteran Gegarthy and won by decision. In his latest fight at the Fight Festival 30 Vainikainen dropped Team Quest’s Bixler with a beautiful overhand right and finished him on the ground. Six foot tall (183 cm) Vainikainen has a long frame and limbs for the LW division. Long reach combined with his technically solid striking makes him a tough fight for anyone who isn’t a powerful wrestler. On the ground Vainikainen can certainly handle himself too and has numerous submission wins to back this claim.

American Josh “Platypus” Pulsifer has been fighting pro since 2006 and during that time gathered a pretty good record (16-5 at the UG, 12-5 according to Sherdog) against moderate competition. Pulsifer comes from a wrestling background that can be seen in his grappling heavy fighting style. He has been training for a long time under BJJ black belt Piet Wilhelm who has transformed him for a pure wrestler to a submission grappler. His ground skills can be seen from his record too as eight of his twelve wins have become via submission. Pulsifer, who teaches history to high school kids for a living, has been fighting down at featherweight before and this will be his first fight in the lightweight division.

In summary: Pulsifer will shoot for takedowns right from the start and try to get this fight to the ground. While Pulsifer will probably be smaller than his opponent, I believe his high level wrestling will lead to successful takedowns. However, keeping Vainikainen on the ground is another story. Vainikainen will have a significant reach advantage on the feet that he will surely want to use. I believe Vainikainen will try to use his crisp straight punches to control the distance and punish Pulsifer when he tries to close the distance.

Other fights on the card:
3x5 min -155 lbs / -70,3 kg
Lauri Väätäinen MMA Utti vs
Tadas Aleksonis Lithuania

2x5 min -170 lbs / -77,1 kg
Johan Vänttinen Fight Factory Porvoo vs
Jake Anttila Mäntän Sutemi/Team BP

2x5 min -170 lbs / -77,1 kg
Lauri Tonteri MMA Utti vs
Dmitri Chelpanov Russia

2x5 min -205 lbs/ -93 kg
Saku Heikkola Valkeakosken Heracles vs.
Grigory Gordeiko, Russia

2x5 min -185 lbs / -83,9 kg
Aleksandr Efimov MMA Utti vs
Nikita Golovchanskiy Russia

2x5min -205lbs/-93 kg
Antti Kästämä GB-Gym Helsinki vs
Antti Kinnunen Edge Vantaa

2x5 min -155 lbs / -70,3 kg
Lauri Kinnunen MMA Utti vs
Roman Porval Russia

2x5 min -145 lbs / -65,8 kg
Tommi Marttinen Mikkelin Full Contact vs
Rashad Muradov Russia

Cage 15: Kuivanen takes the Lightweight belt; Puhakka wins by submission

Cage 15 event offered a night full of exciting Mixed Martial Arts bouts for the fight fans at the Barona Arena in Espoo, Finland.

Main event of the night was the Lightweight title fight between the champion Ivan Buchinger (16-3) and the challenger Anton Kuivanen (15-4). Beforehand the fight was seen as a classic striker versus grappler fight and that is also pretty much how it played out. Hometown hero Kuivanen came out strong with a heavy straight right that landed flush and seemed to set the tone for the fight. Buchinger looked slow on the feet against the explosive Finn and resorted to pushing Kuivanen against the cage. Buchinger worked hard for takedowns but Kuivanen stuffed them with ease and scored a takedown of his own near the end of the first round. In the second round Buchinger tried to push the pace by pressing forward but Kuivanen got the better of the striking exchanges, punished Buchinger on the ground with hard shots and sprawled out of the takedown attempts. Near the end of second round Kuivanen landed couple of hard low kicks that made Buchinger’s front leg buckle. In the third and final round Kuivanen managed to hit Buchinger with a flurry of strikes that wobbled Buchinger on the feet. In survival mode Buchinger shot for a takedown but ended up on the bottom. Kuivanen rained heavy strikes from the top and the referee was very close to stopping the fight with a minute left but the gutsy Slovakian pulled through and made it to the bell. Kuivanen was awarded with a lopsided unanimous decision and the Cage lightweight belt. The Finnish striking machine has now won his last eight fights. A dominant performance over a high level Euro lightweight in Buchinger proves that Kuivanen is definitely ready for bigger stages and tougher challenges.

Finnish Lightweight star Anton Kuivanen is ready for big leagues. Photo by Kulmassa.fi

In the second title fight of the night Finnish warriors Ville Räsänen and Olli-Jaakko Uitto locked horns for the Cage welterweight belt. In the first round the strong grapplers fought a lot in the clinch against the cage and exchanged knee strikes. Near end of the round Räsänen stuffed Uitto’s takedown and dropped down for a guillotine choke. The choke looked tight but experienced submission grappler Uitto defended well and eventually popped his head out. In the second round Räsänen got in couple of heavy shots on the feet that made Uitto shoot for takedowns. It looked like Uitto hurt his knee in one of those takedown attempts and couldn’t continue after the second round. Uitto’s injury meant that Ville Räsänen got a TKO win in his first title defense and took the belt back to Imatra.

Finnish lightweight powerhouse Niko Puhakka (23-11) made short work of Spain’s Manuel Garcia (20-12). Garcia, who has been fighting since 1995, is a true veteran of the sport and a very good grappler with twelve submission wins on his record. It was obvious that Puhakka had the advantage on the feet and that Garcia wanted to take the fight to the ground as soon as possible. After a feeling out period Garcia got what he wanted and took Puhakka down but the strong Finn quickly swept his opponent and got on top. Puhakka landed couple of hard elbows on Garcia on the ground. As Garcia was working his way up, Puhakka quickly spun to his back and slapped a rear naked choke on the Spaniard. Puhakka didn’t even have any hooks in but the Finn squeezed tight and forced Garcia to tap out. Puhakka has now won six of his last seven fights with the only loss coming to Chute Boxe’s Luiz Azeredo who beat Puhakka by decision at the Fight Festival 28.

The fourth fight on the main card was a featherweight bout between Finland’s rising young star Joni Salovaara (8-4) and then undefeated Estonian grappler Jorgen Matsi (5-1). Right off the bat physically strong Matsi pressed forward, put Salovaara against the cage and worked for takedowns. Salovaara however kept his calm, stuffed the takedown attempts and circled away from the cage. On the feet Salovaara landed hard upper cuts and a beautiful flying knee on Matsi but the bull headed Estonian kept pressing forward. The fight went to the judges who awarded Salovaara with the unanimous decision. The young Finn has made massive improvements to his game and is now riding a six fight win streak.

Cage 15 results
Cage LW title fight 155 lbs / 70,3kg: Ivan Buchinger vs Anton Kuivanen: Kuivanen by UD
Cage WW title fight 170lbs / 77,1kg: Ville Räsänen vs OJ Uitto: Räsänen by TKO R2
70,3 kg: Niko Puhakka vs Manuel Garcia: Puhakka by RNC R1
65,8 kg: Joni Salovaara vs Jorgen Matsi: Salovaara by UD
77,1 kg: Kai Puolakka vs Serfei Bigisev: Puolakka by UD
Women 65,8 kg: Katja Kalliokoski vs Ekaterina Tarnavskaja: Kalliokoski by RNC R1
79,0 kg: Reza Faezi vs Valts Visnevskis: Visnevskis by armbar R1
65,8 kg: Antti Virtanen vs Greger Forsell: Forsell by UD
65,8 kg Ilja Soisalo vs Viktor Tomasevic: Tomasevic by armbar R1

Check out the Cage 15 photo galleries at Kulmassa.fi and Pakkotoisto.com

Cage 15 LIVE results

Live results from Cage 15 at the Barona Arena in Espoo, Finland

fight card:

Cage WW title fight 170lbs / 77,1kg: Ville Räsänen vs OJ Uitto: Räsänen by TKO R2

Cage LW title fight 155 lbs / 70,3kg: Ivan Buchinger vs Anton Kuivanen: Kuivanen by UD

70,3 kg: Niko Puhakka vs Manuel Garcia: Puhakka by RNC R1

65,8 kg: Joni Salovaara vs Jorgen Matsi: Salovaara by UD

77,1 kg: Kai Puolakka vs Serfei Bigisev: Puolakka by UD

Women 65,8 kg: Katja Kalliokoski vs Ekaterina Tarnavskaja: Kalliokoski by RNC R1

79,0 kg: Reza Faezi vs Valts Visnevskis: Visnevskis by armbar R1

65,8 kg: Antti Virtanen vs Greger Forsell: Forsell by UD

65,8 kg Ilja Soisalo vs Viktor Tomasevic: Tomasevic by armbar R1

Cage 15 weight-in results

Cage 15 weight-in report (in Finnish) with pics at the Kulmassa.fi

M-1Global Challenge XXV Live stream

You can watch the M-1 Challenge fights live at the M-1 Global website
Fights start at 11.30 AM EST which is 19.30 EET.

Cage 15 Preview

Cage promotion has been quickly making its way to the very top of European fight promotions and this Cage 15 event could pump up the promotion’s stock even higher. The card features Top Ten European fighters in Anton Kuivanen, Ivan Buchinger and Niko Puhakka . The crown of the evening is the lightweight title fight between two top euro LW’s in Anton Kuivanen and Ivan Buchinger. Both guys are looking to get signed by a major promotion so there’s a lot in stake in this fight.

Cage Lightweight Title Fight: Anton Kuivanen (14-4-0) vs Ivan Buchinger (15-2-0) Slovakia

Two top level European lightweights on the verge of breaking into international MMA scene fight for the Cage lightweight belt in a classic striker versus grappler bout.

The main event of the night features once again hometown hero Anton Kuivanen who is the biggest draw in Finnish MMA and thus a vital fighter also for the Cage promotion. The young Finn is known for his flashy striking and entertaining fighting style. American Top Team’s Kuivanen has a great record of 14-4, but it’s getting even better all the time. He’s 10-1 in his last eleven with the only loss coming in the hands of Bendy Casimir in a fight that Kuivanen was clearly winning before getting caught in a knee bar. Since that loss the rapidly improving Finn has won all his fights in a dominating fashion and is currently riding a seven fight win streak. Kuivanen’s highly versatile and explosive striking is still his main weapon of choice but during the last couple of years he has managed to take his wrestling and ground game to another level also.

The Cage lightweight champion Ivan “Buki” Buchinger trains at the Ultra Fight Club that has produced many high quality and exciting fighters like Attila Vegh, Miodrag Petkovic and the talented UFC fighter Goran Reljic. The Slovakian was awarded with the belt when he beat Finnish wrestling powerhouse Jarkko Latomäki at the Cage 14. In that fight Buchinger displayed his excellent ground skills. After getting taken down by Latomäki, Buchinger quickly swept his opponent and took his back. As Latomäki tried to escape, Buchinger saw an opening and applied a fight ending rear naked choke on Latomäki. Buchinger has very good positional grappling as seen in the Latomäki fight that he uses to get the back of his opponent. Once the back mount is achieved, he maintains his position with great technique and goes for the RNC or some other submission. His striking isn’t on the same level as his grappling, but he can hold his own on the feet too. Buchinger’s career opened up with 12 straight victories mainly from local shows before he got beat twice in a row: first by the renowned Swede Hamid “Akira” Corassani and then by the Russian Sergey Golyaev who knocked out Buchinger in May of 2010. However, Buchinger has quickly bounced back from those losses and won his last four fights.

In summary: Because of the difference in the skill sets of these two, it should be quite easy to predict how this fight will play out. Buchinger, who is armed with super slick jiu-jitsu and friction pants, knows that he’s going to get smoked on the feet in this fight. I expect Buchinger to shoot for the takedowns early and often and even resort to pulling guard if he can’t get the fight on the ground otherwise. Kuivanen will look to use his improved grappling to stuff the takedown attempts by Buchinger and keep the fight on the feet where he can use his devastating striking to pick his opponent apart.

Cage Welterweight Title Fight: Ville Räsänen (9-3-0) vs. Olli-Jaakko Uitto (7-0-1)

Cage Welterweight champion Ville Räsänen defends his belt for the first time against Olli-Jaakko Uitto who beat Räsänen back in 2008 with an armbar submission.

Former Finnish national MMA champion Ville Räsänen has stepped up his game considerably during the last two years. Räsänen is 4-1 in his last five with the only loss coming to UFC vet David Bielkheden in a fight that Räsänen took on a very short notice. Räsänen captured the Cage welterweight belt by beating tough Gustavo Picone (13-3) of Switzerland via unanimous decision at Cage 14.  The fight was a grueling back and forth slugfest where both fighters were on thin ice at times.  In the end Imatra MMA’s pupil’s strong physique, high quality grappling and pure gameness got him the nod from the judges.

The challenger Olli-Jaakko Uitto is still undefeated mostly thanks to his excellent grappling skills and great conditioning. In his recent fights Uitto beat fellow Finns Toivianen and Puolakka who are just starting their professional career but who both are already highly skilled MMA fighters. Uitto, who has competed victoriously also in submission grappling, has powerful takedowns and a suffocating top game that he uses together with strikes to grind out his opponents. Uitto has technically solid striking but so far he has used strikes mainly just to set up takedowns.

In Summary: While Uitto is not the most exciting fighter, as a versatile and powerful grappler he is a difficult opponent for most European fighters. However, I don’t think that is the case with Räsänen who fought very well on the ground with BJJ black belt in Picone.  The hardnosed Räsänen should have the advantage on the feet it but it remains to be seen if he can keep the fight standing. This fight might not be the prettiest but I believe it’ll be a grueling battle between two hungry fighters who will leave it all to the cage.

Lightweight fight: Niko Puhakka (22-11-0) vs Manuel Garcia (20-11-0) Spain

Finnish lightweight powerhouse Niko Puhakka has been keeping himself busy lately fighting five times in 2010 and this will be his third fight already in 2011. Puhakka has found great success in his recent fights, going 8-2 in his last ten. Puhakka’s two losses were to Marcus Aurelio by sub and to Luiz Azeredo who managed squeeze a decision win from the Finn. Over the years Puhakka has transformed from a brawler to a technically versatile fighter. His striking has been crisp and tight for a long time but he has also shown very good ground skills lately. Especially in his fights against Azeredo and Maciej Gorski, Puhakka displayed great jiu-jitsu on the ground.

Spain’s Manuel Garcia is a true veteran of MMA. Fighting since 1995 the Spaniard has fought a lot of tough guys ranging from UFC vets Dan Hardy, Jess Liaudin and Luigi Fioravanti to top European talents Diego Gonzalez and Kenneth Rosfort. Garcia has a strong base in jiu-jitsu so it’s natural that ground fighting is his foundation in MMA and twelve of the twenty career wins have become via submission. Garcia has fought at middleweight in the past and at welterweight in his recent bouts but I believe this is the first time he cuts down to lightweight.

In Summary: While Garcia as a very experienced fighter can handle himself anywhere the fight ends up, it's obvious that he would prefer a ground fight against the hard hitting Puhakka. Garcia might very well score a takedown on Puhakka but keeping the Finn on the ground is a different story. Puhakka should have the advantage on the feet with his technically sound boxing skills. It’s hard to predict how much Garcia’s weight cutting to lightweight will tax his performance but the longer the fight goes; the more it should favor Puhakka.                          

Featherweight fight: Joni Salovaara ( 7-4-0 ) vs Jorgen Matsi ( 5-0-0 ) Estonia

After his fighting career got off with a rocky start Joni Salovaara has found his rhythm and won his last five bouts against respectable competition. In his latest fight against the German based American Anthony Durnell, Salovaara showed the whole versatility of his skill set. The young Finn landed good shots on the feet, took his opponent down few times and eventually slapped on a fight ending triangle choke. Besides MMA Salovaara has recently competed also in boxing and worked on his already good striking skills.

Like most guys from the Team Scared and Paranoid also Jorgen Matsi has a strong base in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Matsi is still quite green in MMA and hasn’t fought very recognizable names but his latest two opponents Antti Virtanen and Nikolajs Haustovs are legit wins for a young up-n-comer like Matsi. In the various grappling competitions Matsi has competed he has played a very active submission oriented game, so it has been a bit surprising that he has won his last four MMA fights by decision.

In Summary: Beforehand this fight looks like yet another striker versus grappler match up. While Matsi isn’t clueless on the feet, I would be shocked if he can strike competitively with Salovaara. I expect the Estonian to try to push Salovaara against the cage and work for takedowns from there. Matsi also has very good flying triangles and flying armbars that he can try to pull off from the clinch. Salovaara knows he has a significant advantage on the feet so good foot work and accurate striking are the keys to victory for him.

Prelims:

Featherweight fight: Ilja Soisalo ( 1-5-1 ) vs. Viktor Tomasevic ( 1-2-0 ) Lithuania
Featherweight Antti Virtanen ( 4-2-1) vs Greger Forsell ( 2-0-1 )
Welterweight fight: Kai Puolakka ( 4-2-0 ) vs. Sergei Bigisev ( 2-0-0 ) Lithuania

Middleweight fight:Reza Faezi (0-0-0 ) vs Nerijus Slepetis ( 1-2-0 ) Lithuania 
Womens fight: Katja Kalliokoski ( 3-0-0 ) vs. Ekaterina Tarnavskaja( 0-0-2 ) Ukraine

Remember to check out LIVE results from my blog on the fight night and event report the day after!

M-1 Ukraine International Club Grand Prix

M-1 Ukraine GP stream is now available at the M-1 website.  Awesome fights coming up!

Fight Festival 30 fight videos now available online at Fast TV

You can now watch all the Fight Festival 30 fights from Fast TV. The event had loads of absolutely awesome fights.
Fight Festival 30 at Fast TV

M-1 Selection Europe - live stream

M-1 Selection Europe event will start in an hour or so and they will air the whole event live on the net.
Check it out:
http://www.m-1global.com/

UFC 128 Ennakkokatsaus

19.3.2011 Prudential Center, Newark, USA

Pääkortti:
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4) vs. Jon “Bones” Jones (12-1): Aijai tätä herkkua! Yhdessä kaikkien aikojen LHW-matsissa kohtaavat entinen ihmelapsi Shogun Rua ja nykyinen ihmelapsi Bones Jones.

Kohta kolmenkymmenen vuoden ikään ehtineen Shogunin ottelulistaa kun katsoo niin ”murderers' row ” on ensimmäinen asia mikä tulee mieleen. Lista on täynnä kevyen raskaansarjan legendoja: Liddell, Rampage, Machida, Coleman, Little Nog, Arona ja niin edelleen. Vastuksen taso huomioiden uran neljän tappiota yli 20 matsissa on todella vähän, mutta tappioita analysoi vielä vähän pintaa syvemmälle niin Shogun näyttää entistä paremmalle. Babalulle kärsitty kuristustappio vuodelta 2003 on selvä homma, mutta muissa kolmessa on hieman jossiteltavaa. Coleman-tappio tuli alasviennin yhteydessä tapahtuneen loukkaantumisen takia ja Forrest-tappion syynä oli polvivammasta johtunut paha keskenkuntoisuus. Ja suurin osa asiantuntevista MMA-faneista lienee yhtä mieltä siinä, että Shogun ei todellakaan hävinnyt Machidalle heidän ensimmäisessä kohtaamisessaan. Joka tapauksessa takana on loistava, mutta myös valitettavan vaivainen ura. Polvileikkauksia on nyt takana ainakin kolme, eikä mistään pienistä operaatioista ole kysymys. Tähänkin otteluun Shogun tulee polvioperaation aiheuttamalta ottelutauolta. Brassin taitopaketti (hieno suomennos skillsetistä) on varmasti kaikkien tiedossa: jäätävä tekninen thaikku pystyssä, keskinkertainen pystypaini ja hyvä mattopeli. Lisäksi vanhan koulun Pride-fanit muistavat kuinka vihaisesti Shogun lyö päältä. Heikkouksia ovat olleet tietyssä määrin alasvientien puolustus ja fyysinen suorituskyky, jotka liittyvät molemmat ainakin osittain polvivammoihin.

Kun Jonesin typerä diskaustappio jätetään huomioimatta, on poikkeuksellisen lupauksen rekordi vielä puhtoinen. Jones on poikkeuksellinen, ei pelkästään fysiikkansa ja omaperäisten liikkeiden takia, vaan myös kehittymisen nopeuden suhteen. On uskomatonta, että mies ottelee UFC LHW-tittelistä vain kolme vuotta ammattilaisuran aloittamisen jälkeen ja astelee otteluun vielä suosikin paineet niskassa! Jonesin tähänastiset vastustajat eivät ole olleet Shogunin tasoa, mutta tapa, jolla Jones on heidät hoidellut, puhuu tylyä kieltä. Nuoren jenkin kreikkalaisroomalaistyylinen pystypaini tuntuu olevan varsinainen killeri vastustajille, jotka ovat tottuneet puolustamaan alasvientejä lähinnä sproolaamalla.

Yhteenveto: Jonesin alasvieminen on lähes mahdotonta, ja matossa Jonesin kontrolloiminen alta vaikuttaa olevan erittäin tuskallinen tehtävä (ks. Vera, Matyshenko, Bonnar ottelut). Pystyssä Jonesilla on aina valtava ulottuvuusetu puolellaan ja clinchissä hänen greco-taidot jyräävät. Kohtalaisen kova pähkinä Shogunille purtavaksi, mutta lääkkeitä on. Shogun luultavasti lähtee otteluun pitkälti samalla taktiikalla kuin Machidaa vastaan. Hyvä liike pystyssä, monipuolisia thaikkukombinaatioita tarpeeksi läheltä ja terävät alapotkut kontrauksena aina kun vastustaja liikkuu sisään. Oma veikkauksen mukaan Shogun pärjää alussa hyvin, mutta jossain vaiheessa Jones saa ottelun tonttiin ja se on lopun alku. Jones by TKO strikes R3

Urijah Faber (24-4) vs. Eddie Wineland (18-6-1): Siviilissä leppoisa Faber on häkissä kuin ahma: pieni, helvetin kiukkuinen, sitkeä, nopea ja vahva. Entinen WEC-champpi Wineland on myös kova jannu, mutta otellut pääasiassa huomattavasti Faberia heikompia tyyppejä vastaan. Miesten tasoero näkyy selvimmin tappioita katsoessa. Siinä missä Faber on hävinnyt vain painoluokan absoluuttiselle kärjelle (Aldo, Brown, Griffin) , on Wineland hävinnyt Yahyan ja Beeben kaltaisille ottelijoille. Faber jyrää nopeudella ja painilla. Faber by TKO strikes R2

Jim Miller (19-2) vs. Kamal Shalorus (7-0-2): Aavistuksen ihmeellistä match makingia Joe Silvalta. Miller on voittanut viimeiset kuusi otteluaan, mikä on todella hyvin kivikovassa UFC LW-divarissa. Lisäksi työmyyrä on pieksänyt kahdessa viimeisissään Tibaun ja Oliveiran kaltaiset arvostetut tekijät, joten tuntuu ihmeellistä, että nyt vastaan laitetaan WEC-tuloaks Shalorus. Varsinkin kun Shaloruksen viime matsit ovat kovin tiukkoja splittituomioita Milleriä kevyempää vastusta vastaan. Iranilaissyntyinen Shalorus on erinomainen painija ja varsinainen kivilihasmöykky, mutta ottelemista leimaa jäykkyys ja sitä seuraava kaasuuntuminen. Miller on erittäin monipuolinen tekijä ja lyöntipeli on parantunut kokoajan. Toissa kerralla Miller löi Tibaulta polvet veteläksi. Shalorus pysyy alun hyvin mukana, mutta Miller kiristää pystyssä tahtia ottelun edetessä ja nappaa väsyneestä vastustajasta kuristusvoiton kolmannessa. Miller by RNC R3.

Nate Marquardt (30-10-2) vs. Dan Miller (13-4): Dan Miller korvaa loukkaantuneen Akiyaman ottelussa, jonka voittaminen on hänelle erittäin vaikeaa, varsinkin lyhyellä varoitusajalla.. Marquardt on ollut vaikeuksissa supervahvoja painijoita kuten Sonnenia ja Okamia vastaan, mutta isomman Millerin painipuoli tai fysiikka ei ole edellä mainittujen herrojen tasolla. Bisping ja Maia naputtivat Milleristä helposti pistevoiton pystyssä, mutta Marquardtilla on kovemmat kädet. Marquardt by TKO R2.

Brendan Schaub (7-1) vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (27-8-2): Fighters Onlyn John Joen tekemästä muutaman päivän takaisesta haastattelusta käy hyvin ilmi miksi CroCop ei ole enää entisensä: lukuisat loukkaantumiset ja leikkaukset ovat syöneet parhaan fysiikan ja harjoittelumotivaatio on kaukana parhaista ajoista. Jacksonin leirin lupaava nuorukainen  Schaub dominoi viimeksi Gonzagaa pystyssä kolmen erän ajan. Nyrkkeilytaustalta ponnistavan Schaubin nopeus ja tekninen boksaus oli liikaa brassille ja mielestäni on hyvin todennäköistä, että se on liikaa myös Mirkolle. CroCop ei ole koskaan ollut mikään boksaaja, eikä herra pärjännyt hyvin käsillä lyöviä vastustajia vastaan. Nopeutensa turvin Schaub naputtaa tässä tyylipuhtaita osumia pysyen itse kohtalaisen koskemattomana. Schaub by UD

Prelit SpikeTV:llä:
Luiz Cane (10-3) vs. Eliot Marshall (10-2): Marshall korvaa sairastuneen Vemolan. Erinomaisesti UFC:ssa jo vuosia sitten aloittanut Banha Cane on kärsinyt pari kovaa tappiota viimeisessä kahdessaan. Ensin Pikku-Nogi täräytti brassin katolleen ja sitten Ranskan Cyrille Diabate toisti tempun UFC 114:ssa. Väkivaltaisesti häkissä käyttäytyvä Banha on pystyssä kovakätinen iskijä, mutta koppeja tulee omaan päähän vähän turhan helposti. Tuskastuttavan tylsän Matyshenko-matsin ja siinä tulleen tappion takia yllätyspotku saanut Marshall on voittanut tuon jälkeen kolme matsia UFC:n ulkopuolella. Marshall ei ole mikään erityisen hyvä ottelija millään osa-alueella, mutta matossa BJJ musta vyöllä pitäisi olla tässä matsissa etu puolellaan. Toivoisin kuitenkin, että Cane löytäisi vaihteeksi maalinsa ja päräyttäisi tähän kunnon highlight reel KO:n Cane by KO R1.

Anthony Njokuani (13-4) vs. Edson Barboza Jr. (7-0): Hehkuttelin tätä matsia jo UFC LW-divaria käsitelleessä jutussa. Molemmat herrat ovat aivan karmeita Muay Thai terminaattoreita, joten odotusarvo matsin osalta on tapissa. Voihan se toki olla, että tämä menee kyttäilyksi niin kuin huippuiskijöiden väliset kohtaamiset joskus menevät. Molemmat ovat kuitenkin sen verran aggressiivista sorttia, että eiköhän tässä lyödä niin, että miestä kaatuu tai ainakin kilon paloja irtoaa. Barbozan potkupeli on luita murskaavaa, mutta Njokuanilla puolestaan kippiä lyönneissään. Barboza on suosikki, mutta itse kallistun Njokuanin puoleen. Njokuani by UD.

Prelit Facebookissa:
Ricardo Almeida (13-4) vs. Mike Pyle (20-7-1): Pyle on viimeisissään paininut voitot Jesse Lennoxista ja John Hathawaysta, joka oli veteraanin uran suurin voitto. Tällä kertaa on vaikeampaa, sillä Almeidaa Pyle ei pysty painilla voittamaan. Epäilisin, että viimeksi TJ Grantin helposti voittanut Almeida on parempi pystyssä. Almeida by UD.

Kurt Pellegrino (16-5) vs. Gleison Tibau (21-7): Kahden voimapainijan kohtaaminen ei herätä kummemmin tuntemuksia puoleen jos toiseen. Tibau loistaa keskinkertaisuuksia vastaan, mutta huippu-ukkoja vastaan brassi tuntuu jäävän hieman vajaaksi. Pellegrinolla vähän sama tarina, joten siinä mielessä sopiva matsi. Pellegrino otteli hyvin pystyssä Sotiropoulosta vastaan, joten veikataan UD-voittoa New Jerseyn suuntaan. Pellegrino by UD.

Prelit:
Joseph Benavidez (13-2) vs. Ian Loveland (14-7): Jopa 135-paunaisiin alikokoinen Benavidez on raju pikku-ukko, eikä tässä matsissa ole hirveästi järkeä. Ennen 145:ssa otellut Loveland on kyllä seitsemän voiton putkessa, mutta vastustajien taso on valovuosien päässä Benavidezesta. Benavidez by TKO strikes R2.

Erik Koch (11-1) vs. Raphael Assuncao (16-3): Erittäin lupaava 22-vuotias Koch on hävinnyt vain kerran. Tuo tappio tuli pisteillä FW-sarjan ykköshaastaja, painijyrä Chad Mendesille. Assuncao on tasaisesti suorittava kovan luokan brassi , joka puristi viimeksi pistevoiton laadukkaasta LC Davisista. Uskoisin, että pystyssä Kochilla on kuitenkin etu. Koch by KO R1.

Nick Catone (8-2) vs. Costantinos Philippou (7-1): Kotiyleisölle tehty matsi, jossa New Jerseyn Catone kohtaa Philippoun, joka on Renzon suojatti. Jesse Forbesista pistevoiton paininut Catone on kärsinyt polvivammoista ja ottelutaukoa on nyt yli vuosi. Philippou on ollut viime matseissaan ihan tekijämiehen oloinen. Philippou by UD 

Fight Festival 30 filled with brutal knock outs and flashy submissions

Fight Festival 30 delivered an extremely exciting night of fighting for a packed house at the Töölö Sports Hall in Helsinki. Out of the ten fights on the card, only the Kickboxing European Championship fight went to the judges decision while all MMA bouts ended to before the scorecards were needed.

In the main event of the event recent Bellator Middleweight Tournament winner Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko showcased his amazing striking skills against last minute replacement Nick Wagner of USA. The game bred American came out aggressive right from the start, but Shlemenko kept his emotionless calm and hit Wagner with his signature move, a crushing spinning back fist, that wobbled Wagner and opened a nasty cut to his forehead. Wagner managed to recover, ducked under Shlemenko’s strikes and took him down. Shlemenko quickly swept his opponent and jumped back to his feet where he continued to bomb his opponent with heavy punches and knee strikes. Shlemenko hit already dazed Wagner with a beautiful overhand right that sealed the deal and made Wagner face plant on the canvas. This was the third time Shlemenko fought at the Fight Festival and I really hope we get to see the explosive Russian fight again in Helsinki.

In the co-main event bout Finland’s super prospect Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen made quick work of UFC vet Edwin “Babyface” Dewees. Dewees, who failed to make weight and had to give a part of his purse to Vänttinen, didn’t have an answer for Vänttinen’s huge reach and devastating ground and pound. After hitting Dewees with couple of stiff jabs, Vänttinen took his opponent down and started to rain down heavy bombs from the top. Dewees, despite being a slick grappler, was completely overwhelmed by the attack, so the ref had no choice but to step in and call it off. The win over Dewees was Vänttinen’s eleventh consecutive win and pushes his career record to an impressive 20-2. While waiting for a call from the UFC, the 24 year old Finn is keeping himself busy and fights again already in April at the Rock & Brawl event in Finland.

Finland’s rising lightweight talent Juha-Pekka Vainikainen stretched his winning streak to five wins by beating American Ryan “Bones” Bixler via technical knock out in the first round. Vainikainen hit Bixler with some good shots right from the start but unfortunately he also hit Bixler with a knee to the groin. After Bixler had time to recover, the fight continued on the same track as Vainikainen blasted Bixler with a stiff right hand that dropped him right on the spot. Vainikainen followed Bixler to the ground and managed to get few strikes in before the ref jumped between the two. Bixler got quickly back on his feet and protested the decision to the referee. It seemed that it was a flash knock out and the stoppage might have been a bit early, but to the referees defense I must say that he had a bad angle to the situation and Bixler did drop like a sack of potatoes.

Another Finn fighter on the rise is Joni Salovaara, who beat German-based American Anthony “Death Dealer” Durnell in an exciting featherweight fight. First two rounds of the fight were pretty similar with Salovaara scoring takedowns and taking his opponents back. In both rounds Salovaara worked hard on a rear naked choke and seemed to have it locked couple of times but the American defended well and got out of the situations. In the third round Durnell managed to get top position but that did him no good as Salovaara caught him with a fight ending triangle choke.  This was a great win for the young Salovaara who has now five wins in a row.

One of the best “unknown” lightweight fighters in Europe, Vener Galiev, shined in the fight against experienced American Ryan “Diamond” Healy. Healy came out aggressive and tried to put his hands on the Russian but Galiev was very light on his feet and stayed out of harm’s way. As Healy tried to move in, Galiev nailed him with a beautiful upper cut that made Healy’s knees wobbly. Galiev continued on his attack and finished his opponent on the ground with heavy strikes. The 36 year old Russian, who won the Combat Sambo World Championship in 2008 and 2009, has now a record of 19-6 in MMA but in reality his record is something in the line of 57-8. Like I wrote in the preview, I think that Galiev is a top ten Euro lightweight based on his skills and fighting ability so it would be great to see him face stiffer competition and bigger names in his future fights.

In the prelims Marcus Vänttinen’s little brother, Johan, stayed undefeated and submitted Lithuanian Petras Dirgelas with a kimura in the first round. Another up-n-comer who kept his record clean was Russia’s Andrey "Koresh" Koreshkov, a pupil of Aleksander Shlemenko. Koreshkov took his time on the feet against BJJ black belt Eduardo "Jamelao" Conceicao, waited patiently and then nailed Conceicao with a crushing knee as the Brazilian shot in for the takedown. Conceicao was out for a long time on the canvas but eventually he made back to his feet and seemed to be alright. In womens MMA fight StrikeForce vet Maiju Kujala’s ground game proved to be too much for UK’s Emma Watson. After taking her opponent down, Kujala effortlessly moved to mount and pounded a TKO win from the top. European Submission Grappling Champion Greger Forsell put on a grappling fest together with Lithuanian Laimonas Stancikas. Stancikas was very slick on the ground and even threated Forsell in some legit submission attempts but eventually he had to succumb to Forsell’s superior ground skills and tapped out to an armbar late in the second round.

In the lone kickboxing bout WAKO European Championship belt was on the line. After ten rounds of exciting fighting Finland’s defending champion Jarkko Jussila was declared as the winner by unanimous decision. The challenger Valdrin Vatnikaj, who fights out of Belgium, hit the champ numerous times with lighting fast counterstrikes but in the end Jussila’s constant pressure and reach advantage was too much for Vatnikaj. 

Fight Festival 30 Live Results

Live results from the Töölö Sports Hall, Helsinki, Finland.
1. Johan Vänttinen vs Petras Dirgelas: Vänttinen by kimura R1
2. Maiju Kujala vs Emma Watson: Kujala by TKO strikes R1
3. Greger Forsell vs Laimonas Stancikas: Forsell by armbar R2
4. Jamelao vs Andrey Koreshkov: Koreshkov by KO knee R1
5. Joni Salovaara vs Anthony Durnell: Salovaara by triangle R3
6. Vener Galiev vs Ryan Healy: Galiev by KO R1
7. Kickboxing Euro Championship: Jarkko Jussila vs Valdrin Vatnikaj: Jussila by UD
8. J-P Vainikainen vs Ryan Bixler: Vainikainen by TKO R1
9. Marcus Vänttinen vs Edwin Dewees: Vänttinen by TKO R1
10. Alexandr Shlemenko vs Nick Wagner: Shlemenko by KO R1


Check out the FF30 photo gallery at Pakkotoisto.com

Fight Festival 30 Preview

Time and location: 12th of March 2011 at the Töölö Kisahalli in Helsinki, Finland.

Fight Festival 30 will be one of the biggest MMA events this spring in Finland. The card is absolutely stacked with high quality prospects and seasoned veterans of major promotions.

*** UPDATE: Josh Bryant is injured and out of the main event fight. ***
Main event MW fight: Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (30-5), Russia vs Nick Wagner (6-2), USA
In the main event of the night recent Bellator Middleweight Tournament winner Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko meets last minute replacement Nick Wagner from the USA.

After fighting a long and successful period in the Russian and European MMA events, in 2010 Shlemenko finally launched himself on the map of American MMA. After beating Sean Salmon at the Fight Festival 27, Shlemenko signed with the Bellator promotion and agreed to participate to Bellator’s middleweight tournament. The Russian cleared his path to the final, where he scored a quick TKO win over Bryan Baker, snatching a hefty 100000 dollar bonus for the tournament victory. As the tournament winner Shlemenko got a chance to fight for the middleweight belt against the champion Hector Lombard. After a grueling five rounds of fighting Lombard was awarded with the unanimous decision.

Nick Wagner steps in for injured Josh Bryant. Wagner has fought with some success on local shows in his home state of North Dakota. Will he blinded by the bright lights of Helsinki? 

Summary: When you consider the fact, that Shlemenko is a world class middleweight, it's obvious that this fight is ridiculous on paper. But injuries happen in this sport all the time and it's great that Fight Festival was able to find someone to fight Shlemenko. 

LHW fight: Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen (19-2) vs Edwin “Babyface” Dewees (36-13)

In the co-main event Finland’s top prospect Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen takes on another UFC veteran in USA’s Edwin “Babyface” Dewees.

At the Fight Festival 29 Vänttinen completely bulldozed UFC vet Ron Faircloth in a fight that lasted under two minutes. The Faircloth bout was Vänttinen’s fourth fight in four months. In October 2010 Vänttinen dominated UFC vet Ivan Serati on the ground and finished him in just four minutes. This was followed a unanimous decision win at Cage 14 over American Victor O’Donnell, who fans might remember from the Ultimate Fighter show. Vänttinen is currently riding a 10 fight win streak and has openly stated that getting signed by the UFC is his goal at the moment. A win over a crafty veteran like Dewees would move the 24 year old Finn a step closer to reaching his goal.

Fighting ever since he turned eighteen and fighting over 50 professional bouts, now 28 year old 

Edwin Dewees is a true veteran of the sport. Dewees, product of the once famed Lions Den gym, is probably best known for fight against Gideon Ray on the Ultimate Fighter season four.  In the fight Dewees suffered a horrible cut to his forehead and the fight turned into a three round bloodbath. Despite the huge pool of blood, there were even some comical aspects in the fight as Dewees pounded Ray from side mount with one hand while applying pressure to his cut with his other hand. Dewees is a proficient submission grappler, who has scored amazing 29 submission wins. During his long career he has fought guys like Rich Franklin, Little Nog and Frank Trigg, which tells you that Dewees isn’t afraid of challenges. Since his high profile fight with Little Nog at the Afflication in 2008, Dewees has fought just once at a local show in 2009.

Summary: Dewees is a great grappler and he can surely put Vänttinen into some hairy situations on the ground if he gets him there first. However when you consider the facts that Dewees, who has fought as a middleweight most of his career, is coming off a long layoff and will be a lot smaller than Vänttinen come fight time, it’s obvious that Vänttinen will be a heavy favorite to win this bout. Vänttinen will try to keep the fight on the feet, where he can use his reach advantage and superior striking to chop down Dewees.

LW fight: Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (15-5) vs Ryan "Bones" Bixler (19-12), USA

Young Finn Juha-Pekka Vainikainen locks horns with American Ryan ”Bones” Bixler, who fights second time in Finland in 2011. Both guys fought in the Fight Festival 29 event in late January. 

Vainikainen beat UFC vet Brian Gegaghty by keeping the fight on the feet where he could use his reach advantage and superior boxing to pick his foe apart. Even though he has a competent ground game, Vainikainen, who is tall and long limbed for a lightweight, is on his best on the feet. 

Keeping the fight on the feet won’t be an easy task against Ryan Bixler. Originally from Iowa, the young American hails from a wrestling background and currently trains at the famed Team Quest that is known for producing powerful wrestlers. At the Fight Festival 29 Bixler lost to Finnish lightweight star Anton Kuivanen by rear naked choke in the second round, but before that he looked good and took Kuivanen down couple of times with beautiful slams.

Summary: Both guys are basically allround fighters, but I think Vainikainen will hold the advantage on the feet while Bixler has the edge in wrestling. Look for the aggressive American to push for takedowns right from the start. Vainikainen will probably try to stick and move and to wear down his opponent with precision strikes, much like he did in his last fight.

FW fight: Joni Salovaara (6-4) vs Anthony “Death Dealer” Durnell (9-2), USA

In a high quality featherweight bout Finland’s young gun Joni Salovaara welcomes American soldier Anthony Durnell to Finnish soil.

After his fighting career got off with a rocky start Joni Salovaara has found his rhythm and won his last four fights against respectable competition. In his latest fight against the Finnish grappling phenom Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas, Salovaara showed calmness under pressure, defended the submission attempts well and smashed his opponent in the second round, earning an impressive TKO victory. Much like his training partners Puhakka and Vainikainen at the Espoon Kehähait’s gym, Salovaara is an allround fighter, but for this bout I think he’d rather keep it on the feet.

Fighting out of Ramstein air force base in Germany, American Anthony Durnell has put together a great record of nine wins with just two losses. One of the two losses came in the hands of Salovaara’s training partner J-P Vainikainen, who choked out Durnell at Iron Fist 3 event in November of 2010. Durnell is a pretty good wrestler, who likes to stay active on the ground with the ground and pound.

Summary: As a wrestling oriented fighter Durnell will probably try to take Salovaara down, get the top position and put his ground and pound to work. Salovaara is pretty slick of his back, but I believe he’ll try to avoid the ground game and use his superior striking on the feet.

LW fight: Vener Galiev (17-6), Russia vs Ryan “Diamond” Healy (19-9), USA

Russian Vener Galiev steps in for the injured Anton Kuivanen and fights Team Quest’s Ryan Healy in a lightweight bout that could end up being the fight of the night.

RusFighters’ Vener Galiev has a strong background in Sambo, which shows in his MMA fights too. Galiev has great trip takedowns and throws from the clinch and a competent ground game. He is also light on his feet and rarely gets hit with big punches. Galiev has won three of his last four fights, including a win over Finnish WW/MW fighter Mikko Suvanto at Fight Festival 27. In October of 2010 at the FNR event in Moscow Galiev lost by points to his team mate and highly regarded prospect Shamil Zavurov (14-1).

During his nearly ten year long fighting career Strikeforce and WEC veteran Ryan Healy has seen a lot and fought some super tough guys like Jorge Masvidal and Rick Story, who both went to decision with Healy. Healy hasn’t been finished since 2006, when he lost to Rob McCullough by cut stoppage. The persistent American has won four of his last five with the lone loss coming in his latest fight against the Canadian Kajan Johnson at the MFC event in November of 2010. Despite having strong wrestling, Healy is known for his aggressive fighting style. Out of his 19 career wins, 11 have come via TKO or KO and 5 by submission.

Summary: This is a very interesting match up from a technical point of view. Thanks to his extensive Sambo background, Galiev is very hard to take down, so it’ll be interesting to see how this fight plays out. Healy will surely try to push the pace with constant pressure and turn the fight into a brawl, which would favor his hard-nosed style of fighting. Based on his skills I would say that Galiev is a European top ten level fighter, so Healy better bring his A-game to Helsinki or he’s going to get Sambo’ed.

Also on the card

In a welterweight bout Brazilian BJJ black belt Eduardo "Jamelao" Conceicao (4-2) will test the ground skills of Russian Andrey "Koresh" Koreshkov (2-0). Finland’s grappling ace Greger Forsell (1-0) gets a challenge from Lithuanian grappler Laimonas Stancikas (7-8). In woman’s MMA fight StrikeForce vet Maiju Kujala (4-3) meets UK’s Emma Watson (1-0), who put on an awesome show at the Fight Festival 27. In a welterweight bout undefeated Johan Vänttinen (2-0) will try to continue on his winning ways against Lithuanian Petras Dirgelas (1-0).

Fight Festival has always been a versatile combat sports event that holds Kickboxing and Muay Thai fights mixed with MMA bouts. In the European Kickboxing Championship title fight the reigning champion Jarkko Jussila of Finland is challenged by Valdrin Vatnikaj, who fights out of Belgium. 

Check out the blog on Saturday night for live results from the FF 30! Full event report will follow on Sunday.